Adjusting and locking apparatus



July 22, 1924. I F. KOENIGKRAMER ADJUSTING AND LOCKING APPARATUS Filed Dec. 14, 1922 T n ll 0 v0 2 3 14 3 i v v 5 M 4 F 1 A a i 3 M5 %3 3 3 Patented July 22, 1924.

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1,502,001 ATENT oFFIcE.

FREDERICK KOENIGKRAIVIER, or CINCINNATI, OHIO.

ADJUSTING AND LOCKING APPARATUS.

Application filed December 14, 1922. Serial No. 606,781.

v similar members relative to their supports.

One'of its objects is to provide automatically actuated adjusting means combined with im proved locking and releasing means where by the adjusting means may be conveniently locked rigidly to its adjusted positions and conveniently released when required. Another object is to provide improved automatic and positive locking adjusting means with releasing means to release the positive or to release both the positive and automatic looking means. Another object is to provide in proved locking means adapted to lock firmly and positively without injury to the engaging members, and adapted to be readily released. Another object is to provide an improved combination adjusting and locking means. My invention also comprises certain details of formcombination and ar-" rangement all of which will be fully set forth in the descriptionof the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the upper portion of a surgical chair or treatment table withmy improvements applied thereto.

Fig. 2, is a sectional detail through a portion of the adjusting and locking apparatus, taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 3, is a view similar to Fig. 2, illustrating a modification thereof.

Fig. 4, is a sectional detail taken on line H of Fig. 1. V

Fig. 5, is a sectional detail taken on line 55'of Fig. 4. i

' The accompanying drawings illustrate the preferred embodiments of my invention in which 15 represents the chalr seat member of a surgical chair for instance supported rigidly upon astandard- 16 which may be stationarily mounted upon abase, not shown.

The member 16 may be and preferably is the plunger of a hydraulic lift whereby the member 15 may be vertically adjusted and rigidly supported in any of its adjusted posi-- tions. A chair back member '17 is hinged at the member 7 15.

18 to the chair-seat member 15, and is adapted to be adjusted upon its hinge axis 18 from its full line substantially vertical position to its dotted line substantially horizontal position Fig. 1. Chair arm members 19 may be employed or omitted as desired. The members 15 and 17 may also represent respectively a rigid table top section and an adjustable table top section of a treatment table rigidly or adjustably supported upon a standard 16 and hingedtogether at 18.

In order to conveniently and reliably adjust the member 17 relative to the member 15, and to retain the member 17 in its adjusted position and when required to positively lock the member 17 to adjust positions against movement in either direction and to readily release the member 17 from its positive lock, or from its automatic lock or from both at one operation I provide a rod or bar 20, preferably a bar of rectangular crosssectional pattern with its broad or flat face toward the member 17. The bar 20 is hinged at 21 to the rear or under face of the member 17 and its free end passes through a correspondingly shaped recess 22 in a latch member 2 1-. The latch member 2 1 is pivotally mounted between the forked arms of a bracket 25 which is rigidly attached to A hinge axle 26 serves to pivotally support the latch member 2 1 between the arms of bracket 25. Axle 26 is locked rigidly to the latch member 24 by means of a set-screw 27 or equivalent locking means, while said axle hinges in bearings 28 in opposite ends of said bracket 25. The recess 22 being at one side of the hinge axle 26 andsnugly fitted to the bar 20, causes the latch member 2 1- tocontinuously and automatically. tend to grip the bar 20 to prevent downward movement of the bar 20 through the slot 22 and consequently to prevent downward movement of member 17.

This automatic latching tendency is due to the member'24 gravitating and turning upon its hinge axle 26 so as to cant or bind the bar 20 in and between opposite walls of the slot 22 and thereby grip the bar in the slot 22 and prevent downward movement of bar 20 through the slot 22 except when the latch member 24 is supported or elevated. At the same time the bar 20 is capable of moving freely upwardly through the recess 22. Hence the member 17 may be readily adjusted upwardly to any desired position by grasping the member 17 andlifting itto the desired position whereupon the latch member 24 will automatically act to grasp the bar 22 between opposite walls of the recess 22 to latch member 17 to its new position of adjustment. To lower the member 17 it is necessary to elevate or support the weight of latch member 24 so as to permit the bar 20 to move downwardly through the slot 22 until member 17 reaches the desired position, whereupon support for latch member 24 is ren'ioved and latch member 24 acts to automatically grip bar 20 to hold member 17 to its lower position of adjustment. The above described latching and adjusting serves the purpose of ord'nary and general adjustments of the member 17. Under certain circumstances it is desirable to be able to positively lock the member 17 against movement in either up"ard or downward direction. It is also desirable to place varying degrees of tension upon the freedom with which the bar 20 perm'tted to pass in opposite di rection through the recess 22.

In order to accomplish the tensioning and positive locking of the bar 20 with reference to the latch member 24 I provide an upward extension of the latch member 24, preferably formed integral therewith. 2%.. locking lever 31 is pivotally attached to the extension 30 at one side thereof by means of a screw 32 and lock nut 33. At the opposite side of the extension 30 I preferably provide a screw 34 and lock nut- 35. The screw is located in a curved slot 36 in the lever 31 and serves to hold the lever 31 in contact with the face of the extension 30 and to limit the movement of the lever 31 with reference to the extension 30. That portion of the lever 31 opposite the extension 30 is thicker at its upper edge than at its lower edge and has a relatively narrow plane face 37 which is designed to contact with the face of the angle plate 40 one end of which 41'is interposed between the face 37 and the face of the bar 20 to enable the lever 31 to act as a wedge interposed between the extension 30 and member 41 to thereby wedge or force the. member 41 into contact with the face of the bar 20 and in turn lock the bar 20 between the member 41 and the wall of the slot 22 to either positively lock the latch member 24 and extension 30 to the bar 20, or to exert varying degrees of tension upon the face of bar 20 to prevent the bar 20 moving with ['00 great a degree of freedom through the recess 22, depending upon the extent to which the lever 31 is depressed or elevated with reference to the latch member 24 and its extension 30. The screws 32 and 34 are adjustable to secure any desired frictional engagement or tension between the adjacent faces of extension 30 and lever 31 to cause the lever 31 to retain any position to which it may be adjusted with reference to extension 30. The handle of lever 31 also affords a convenient means to be engaged by hand or knee of the operator to lift the latch member 24 when it is desired to feed the bar 20 downwardly through the recess 22. \Vhen the lever 31 is fully depressed and wedged between extension 30 member 41 and bar 20, the parts 41, 20, 24, 30, and 31 are firmly locked together against any relative movement until lever 31 is hand operated to retract the lever 31. Varying degrees of depression of lever 31 afford varying degrees of tension upon the freedom of movement of bar 20 in recess 22, and when lever 31 is fully retracted it no longer serves to tension the movement of bar 20, but still serves as a convenient means to lift the latch member 24 and feed the bar downwardly.

The plate 40 is preferably of sheet metal bent at substantially right angles and pro vided with a perforation 42 for the passage of the bar 20. The: member 40 is secured in place relative to latch member 24 by means of screw 43 and lock nuts 44. The plate 40 and its free end 41 serves as a convenient and inexpensive finish for the faces of the latch member exposed to view. The member 41 being interposed between the bar 20 and lever 31 prevents any tendency of the bar 20 to act on the lever 31 to release the locking action thereof.

As illustrated in Fig. 4, the engaging faces of the member 30 and member 31 are continuous plane faces from the screw 32 to the screw 34 and hence-afford a substantially rigid or unyielding backing or support for the plane face or wedge face 37.

In Fig. 3, I have illustrated a modification in which the plate 40 and member 41 are omitted and the inclined face 46 of the lever 31 comes into direct contact with the face of the bar 20 so that member 31 is wedged between member 30 and the bar 20 to lock the bar 20 to the latch member 24.

The apparatus herein shown and de scribed is capable of considerable modification without departing from the spirit of my invention.

l/Vhat I claim is:

1. In combination a rigidly positioned member, a movable member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached at one end to the rear of the movable member, a bracket extending rearwardly from the rigidly positioned member, a latch member pivotally supported upon said bracket and provided with a latching perforation through which the free end of said bar projects, and a lever pivotally attached to said latch member and having a limited movement relative to said latch. member, said lever serving as an adjustable wedge movable into and out of engagement between said bar and a projection on said latch member at one side of said perforation to exert a frictional tension on the movement of said bar relative to said latch member.

2. In combination with a pair of relatively adjustable members, an adjusting bar pivotally attached to one of said members, a gravity actuated latch member comprising two angularly disposed and united arms pivotally attached near one end of one arm to the opposite of said members and provided with a perforation through which the free end of said bar projects, and a hand lever pivotally attached to the other arm of said angular latch member and having a limited movement relative to said angular latch member'to serve as an adjusting wedge between one arm of said angular latch member and one side of said adjusting bar to exert varying degrees of frictional tension upon said bar to partially tension or rigidly lock said bar to said angularlatch member.

3. In combination with a rigidly mounted member and a member hinged to and adjustable relative to said rigidly mounted member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached to one of said members, a latch member comprising two angularly disposed and united arms pivotally attached near one end of one of said arms to the opposite of said members and provided with a perforation through which the free end of said bar proj ects, and a hand lever pivotally attached to one arm of said angular latch member to serve as an adjusting wedge between one arm of said angular latch member and one face of said adjusting bar and having a limited movement relative to said angular latch member, said hand lever being in position to be wedged between said bar and one arm of said angular latch member to rigidly lock said bar to said angular latch member, and to also serve as a handle with which tooperate said angular latch member.

4. In combination a rigidly mounted member, and a member hinged to and adjustable relative to said rigidly mounted member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached at one end to said adjustable member, a latch member pivotally attached to said rigidly mounted member and provided with a latching perforation through which the free end of said bar projects, and a lever pivotally attached to said latch member to serve as an adjusting wedge between one face of said latch member and one face of said adjusting bar and having a limited movement relative to said latch member, said lever serving to exert a frictional tension on the movement of said bar through the recess in said latch member.

5. In combination a rigidly mounted mem-' ber, a member hinged to and adjustable relative to said rigidly mounted member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached to one of said members, a latch member pivotally attached near one end to the opposite of said members and provided with a recess through which the free end of said adjusting bar projects, a wedge member pivotally attached at one end to said latch member and movable into and out of wedged relation to said ad'- justing bar and latch member, and a buffer member attached to and yieldable relative to said latch member and interposed be tween said wedge member and the face of said adjusting bar.

6. In combination a rigidly mounted member, a member hinged to and adjustable relative to said rigidly mounted member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached atone end to said adjustable member, a latch member pivotally attached to said rigidly mounted member.andprovided with a latching recess through which the free end of said bar projects, a lever pivotally attached to said latch member and having a limited movement relative to said latch member to serve as an adjustable wedge between said adjusting bar and said latch member, and a member mounted yieldingly relative to said latch member and interposed between said wedge and the face of said adjusting bar.

7 In combination a rigidly mounted member, a member hinged to and'adjustable relative to said rigidly mounted member, an adjusting bar pivotally attached to one ofi said members, a latch member pivotally attached near one end to the opposite of said members and provided with a recess through which the free end of said adjusting bar projects, a wedge member pivotally attached at one end to said latch member and movable into and out of wedged relation to said adjusting bar and latch member, and a flexible sheet metal buffer member attached to and forming a finished surface for said latch member, a portion of said buffer member being interposed between said wedge member and the face of said adjusting bar.

In testimony whereof I "have affixed my signature.

FREDERICK KOENIGKRAMER. 

